Daily Quotes

[Tamrin]

The fallacy of genetic determinism is to suppose that the genes "make' the organism. It is a
basic principle of developmental biology that organisms undergo a continuous development
from conception to death, a development that is the unique consequence of the interaction
of the genes in their cells, the temporal sequence of environments through which the organisms
pass, and random cellular processes that determine the life, death, and transformation of cells


The great attraction of cultural anthropology in the past was precisely that it seemed to offer such
a richness of independent natural experiments; but unfortunately it is now clear that there has
been a great deal of historical continuity and exchange among those "independent" experiments,
most of which have felt the strong effect of contact with societies organized as modern states


There are some things in the world that we will never know and many that we will never know exactly.
Each domain of phenomena has its characteristic grain of knowability. Biology is not physics, because
organisms are such complex physical objects, and sociology is not biology because human societies
are made by self-conscious organisms. By pretending to a kind of knowledge that it cannot achieve,
social science can only engender the scorn of natural scientists and the cynicism of the humanists


It is characteristic of the design of scientific research that exquisite attention is devoted to methodo-
logical problems that can be solved, while the pretense is made that the ones that cannot be solved
are really nothing to worry about. On the one hand, biologists will apply the most critical and de-
manding canons of evidence in the design of measuring instruments or in the procedure for taking
an unbiased samples of organisms to be tested, but when asked whether the conditions in the labor-
atory are likely to be relevant to the situation in nature, they will provide a hand-waving intuitive argu-
ment filled with unsubstantiated guesses and prejudices because, in the end, that is all they can do


The division between those who try to learn about the world by manipulating it and those who can
only observe it had led, in natural science, to a struggle for legitimacy. The experimentalists look
down on the observers as merely telling uncheckable just-so stories, while the observers scorn the
experimentalists for their cheap victories over excessively simple phenomena. In biology the two
camps are now generally segregated in separate academic departments where they can go about
their business unhassled by their unbelievers. But the battle is unequal because the observers'
consciousness of what it is to do "real" science has been formed in a world dominated by the man-
ipulators of nature. The observers then pretend to an exactness that they cannot achieve and they
attempt to objectify a part of nature that is completely accessible only with the air of subjective tools


An important consequence of the unique interaction between internal and external forces ...
is that knowledge of genetic differences contain no information at all about whether a
characteristic can be changed by environmental and social arrangements. The most elementary
error about genetics and development is to suppose that "genetic" is the opposite of "change-
able" and that an answer to the question "how much can a trait be changed by social, historical
and individual circumstances" is given by an answer to the question "how important are genes?"


To say that genetic differences are relevant to hetero- and homosexuality is not, however,
to say that there are "genes for homosexuality" or even that there is a "genetic tendency to
homosexuality." This critical point can be illustrated by an example I owe to the philosopher
of science, Elliott Sober. If we look at the chromosomes of people who knit and those who
do not, we will find that with few exceptions, knitters have two X chromosomes [women],
while people with one X and one Y chromosome [men] almost never knit. Yet it would be
absurd to say that we had discovered genes for knitting. ... n our culture, women are taught
to knit and men are not. The beauty of this example is its historical (and geographical) contin-
gency. Had we made our observations before the end of the eighteenth century (or even now
in a few Irish, Scottish and Newfoundland communities), the results would have been reversed.
Hand knitting was men's works before the introduction of knitting machines around 1790, and was
turned into a female domestic occupation only when mechanization made it economically marginal


Richard C. Lewontin
American evolutionary biologist and geneticist (Not in Our Genes)
(Born this day 1929)



Science fiction stories are the Gedanken experiments of social science

[Tamrin]

Always look on the bright side of life


Life doesn't make any sense, and we all pretend it does. Comedy's job is to point
out that it doesn't make sense, and that it doesn't make much difference anyway


If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups
who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted


Bear in mind the simple rule, X squared to the power of two minus five over the seven point
eight three times nineteen is approximately equal to the cube root of MCC squared divided
by X minus a quarter of a third percent. Keep that in mind, and you can't go very far wrong


The Minister of Transport issued this appeal to motorists: Can anyone give him a lift to Leicester?


A lot has been said about politicians; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate


Know what I mean? Eh, eh, Nudge nudge, Say no more!


Eric Idle
English comedian (Monty Python)
(Born this day 1943)



Mere lack of evidence, of course, is no reason to denounce a theory. Look at intelligent design. The
fact that it is bollocks hasn’t stopped a good many people from believing in it. Darwinism itself is only
supported by tons of evidence, which is a clear indication that Darwin didn’t write his books himself

[Tamrin]

A sound-bite never buttered any parsnips


The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision


A consensus politician is someone who does something that he
doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it


The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience.
Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare


If the answer is more politicians, you are asking the wrong question


The argument that Saddam Hussein was a bad man and had to be removed simply won't do. There are
many bad men around the world who run countries and we don't topple them, and, indeed, in earlier
years we actually supported Saddam Hussein when he was fighting Iran. The argument that some-
one is a bad man is an inadequate argument for war and an unacceptable argument for regime change


In the next ten years we will have to continue to make changes which
will make the whole of this country a genuinely classless society


Sir John Major
British Prime Minister (1990 to 1997)
(Born this day 1943)



Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be "too clever by half".
The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters

[Tamrin]

There's always a moment when everything changes


I have to say (regretfully) that I've seen very little in my real life
to indicate the presence of either the supernatural or the divine


I was about ten when I first read 1984 and Lord of the Flies, both of which absolutely
terrified me — especially 1984, because I figured out that Julia, Winston Smith's lover,
would have been born the same year I was. I knew these books were fiction, but I was
far too young to have a grasp on the political or cultural realities behind them — I had
no distance or detachment from what I read: it seemed too real to me, too possible


So much fantasy relies on the author's having read Fraser's The Golden Bough or Robert Graves'
The White Goddess and nothing else. The White Goddess is a crank book, a crank book of genius
of course, but all the same... Mind you, I found Waking the Moon cited in an article in a pagan
magazine as an authority for the idea that there was a patriarchal brotherhood, the Benandanti,
that have been running things since antiquity, with no mention of the fact that it is a novel,
and a fantasy at that. People want to believe something, and so they swallow anything


I find that many modern fantasies explain things away far too easily, which makes
a lot of it overly familiar (to me, anyway). Real myths are often strange and startlingly
unfamiliar, and don't always give up their meanings easily; you have to tease them
out, and for me, that's one of the pleasures of reading older collections of lore


You build a character, a shell, and if you build it right, something comes to live inside it


Do I think the world would be a better place if it were run solely by women?
No; not any more than I think a solely patriarchal model is an ideal


Elizabeth Hand
American writer (Prince of Flowers)
(Born this day 1957)



I'm an utterly orthodox feminist in the political or social sense: I want equal rights
for women, period, and I vote that way. I support social programs that help women
and children; I'm pro-choice, in favor of anything that makes it easier for women to
raise their kids, with or without men, in conventional or unconventional family units

[Tamrin]

It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know
— the less a man knows, the more sure it is that he knows everything


God is a character, a real and consistent being, or He is
nothing. If God did a miracle He would deny His own nature
and the universe would simply blow up, vanish, become nothing


For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces
the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous
creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity


Love doesn't grow on trees like apples in Eden — it's something
you have to make. And you must use your imagination too


A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of
painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress


The will is never free — it is always attached to an object,
a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car — it can't steer


Religion is organized to satisfy and guide the soul
— politics does the same thing for the body


Joyce Cary
English writer (Horse's Mouth)
(Died this day 1957)



A novel points out that the world consists entirely of exceptions

[Tamrin]

We're living beyond our means ... and we have to get our act together


Reckless people have deluded themselves that this was a subprime crisis. But we have
problems with credit-card debt, student-loan debt, auto loans, commercial real estate
loans, home-equity loans, corporate debt and loans that financed leveraged buyouts ...
We have a subprime financial system, not a subprime mortgage market


The Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that pro-
vides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will
come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe
stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown


I think it's a very negative signal we're sending to the world.
We don't have the luxury to snub the world


If we continue with our current patterns of spending above our incomes, by 2013
the U.S. foreign liabilities could be as high as 75 percent of GDP and an increasing
fraction of such liabilities will be in the form of equity. So, let us stop whining about
the dangers of unfriendly foreigners owning our firms and assets and get used to it


The ability to send a 'sell' order that roils markets may not give China a veto over U.S.
foreign policy, but it surely does increase the cost of any U.S. policy that China opposes


Anything that makes your attempt to buy an asset more risky can have a material
effect on the amount of investment we get. These days, we'd be lucky if we get
lots of foreign direct investment. We should not restrict it. We should make it easier


Nouriel Roubini
Turkish-American professor of economics (GFC warning)
(Born this day 1958)



The challenge we face is how to integrate the Muslim world into the global economy. Asia has
become part of it, but not Africa or the Middle East. One could realistically think about a Marshall
Plan with respect to this part of the world, to succeed in integrating the Muslim and Arab world into
the global economy as we did in Europe after World War II. For example, we’ve wasted hundredsof
billions of dollars on the Iraq war. Had we taken a third of this money and invested it into a Marshall
Plan for the Middle East, the benefits would have been ten times more than wasting it on a war

[Tamrin]

[Tamrin]

Sunday’s Quotes:

1 of 2:

Accept the truth from whatever source it comes


Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire
world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it


Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who
will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen


Know that for the human mind there are certain objects of perception which are within
the scope of its nature and capacity; on the other hand, there are, amongst things which
actually exist, certain objects which the mind can in no way and by no means grasp: the
gates of perception are closed against it. Further, there are things of which the mind
understands one part, but remains ignorant of the other; and when man is able to com-
prehend certain things, it does not follow that he must be able to comprehend everything


These laws, however, presuppose an advanced state of intellectual culture. We must first
form a conception of the Existence of the Creator according to our capabilities; that is, we
must have a knowledge of Metaphysics. But this discipline can only be approached after
the study of Physics: for the science of Physics borders on Metaphysics, and must even pre-
cede it in the course of our studies, as is clear to all who are familiar with these questions


He, however, who begins with Metaphysics, will not only become
confused in matters of religion, but will fall into complete infidelity


Be convinced that, if man were able to reach the end without preparatory studies,
such studies would not be preparatory but tiresome and utterly superfluous


Maimonides (Rambam)
Spanish Jewish physician and philosopher (Guide for the Perplexed)
(Born this day 1135)



We are obligated to be more scrupulous in fulfilling the commandment of charity
than any other positive commandment because charity is the sign of a righteous man

[Tamrin]

2 of 2:

My object in adopting this arrangement is that the truths should be at one time apparent and
at another time concealed. Thus we shall not be in opposition to the Divine Will (from which it is
wrong to deviate) which has withheld from the multitude the truths required for the knowledge of
God, according to the words, 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him' (Psalm 25:14)


If, as regards real or supposed truths, you content yourself with giving utterance
to them in words, without apprehending them or believing in them, especially if
you do not seek real truth, you have a very easy task as, in fact, you will find many
ignorant people professing articles of faith without connecting any idea with them


Do not imagine that these most difficult problems can be
thoroughly understood by any one of us. This is not the case


If one of the multitude refuses to believe [that angels are incorporeal] and prefers to
believe that angels have bodies and even that they eat, since it is written (Genesis 18:8)
'they ate', or that those who exist in the World to Come will also have bodies —
we won't hold it against him or consider him a heretic, and we will not distance our-
selves from him. May there not be many who profess this folly, and let us hope that
he will go no farther than this in his folly and believe that the Creator is corporeal


There is one [disease] which is widespread, and from which men rarely escape. This
disease varies in degree in different men... I refer to this: that every person thinks
his mind... more clever and more learned than it is ... I have found that this disease
has attacked many an intelligent person... They express themselves [not only] upon
the science with which they are familiar, but upon other sciences about which they
know nothing... If met with applause... so does the disease itself become aggravated


You must know that if a person, who has attained a certain degree of perfection,
wishes to impart to others, either orally or in writing, any portion of the knowledge
which he has acquired of these subjects, he is utterly unable to be as systematic
and explicit as he could be in a science of which the method is well known


Anticipate charity by preventing poverty


Maimonides (Rambam)
(Born this day 1135)



It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand
guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death

[Tamrin]

Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance?
Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness?
— and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say,
'Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right


Do you know why this world is as bad as it is? … It is because people
think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves
to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doers to light


My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the
power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt


We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us
how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words


There is no religion without love, and people may talk as
much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach
them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham


If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it
can be done without; and a good man will find a way


Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is
everybody's business to interfere when they see it


Anna Sewell
British writer (Black Beauty)
(Born this day 1820)



My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy
I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees